Monday, October 17, 2016

Boasting with Pride ~ She's Bulletproof

If the title didn't give it away .... this is going to be a brag post.  Seeing Av's Birthday is next week (she will be turning 14 on October 24) I find this fitting to show you my amazing daughter.

Doing it her way,  on her terms ~ Since DAY 1 !!  This girl never ceases to AMAZE me.
Deciding to come into this world 8 weeks premature and born with a blood disorder, severe anemia, jaundice and not knowing how to eat properly this lil spit fire has been defying odds and giving it all she has.  I remember seeing her fight for her life in an incubator wondering what the world had in store for her and after being told there was a very good possibility that she would be delayed socially and academically my anxiety and fear rose for what her future held.  Then terrifying me some more she found herself once again fighting for her life at the age of 6 when her body shut down and stopped reproducing red blood cells due to a virus when on a vacation in Florida.

Breaking the stereotype of being a home schooled child, she started the public school system at 2nd grade.  She proved the school system wrong that a girl her age could indeed be educated and socialized enough to be where she needed to be, not where they wanted her to be.  She didn't fit the age requirement as she was too young to be in 2nd grade, but they quickly found out she was up for the task if they just gave her the opportunity to shine.   Fast forward to today, she is still one of the youngest kids in 9th grade while in advanced classes and rocking it with straight A's and she has the most amazing bonds and friendships with her peers

Stepping on a diving board for the first time at age 9 in 4th grade, the Coach said that very first practice .... "She was a natural". She dives with the utmost grace and style.  She has 5 more meets to go but this small young Freshman is making a name for herself by ranking as the #1 diver out of all the High School divers.

She has a lot of adult worry with her brothers and mothers health in addition to our crazy family dynamics/support or lack there of and that breaks my heart.  But I hope she knows that her mother and father WILL ALWAYS have her back, support her and Love her.  The bond that she has with her brother is like none other and could never be replaced or replicated ~ those two have something "special".  Her brother who is her biggest fan will be with her forever and always cheering her on.

Her attributes are ~ She is her worst critic, She thrives for perfection, She's dedicated, She empathetic and She wears her heart on her sleeve....these also all could be her disadvantages at times.  Don't get me wrong she is still a growing teenager with an attitude, but I wouldn't want her any other way.

Dream BIG Baby Girl ~ You GOT THIS!
Love ~ Mom

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Dodged that ~

Nothing short of interesting here at the Osero's household lately.
Danny has had some significant highs n lows.  Finding out his system was in withdrawal do to decreasing one of his meds was just the beginning.  The new med regimen of adding Charolettes Web CBD oil and GABA gave us a curve ball.  Danny has been having an increase in Neuro's and seizures so off to see the doctor to get some labs done in hopes there was a red flag waving to show us the trigger to all this new activity.  Most everything came back normal, but we did find out Danny's cortisol levels were low. I started to do some more research and I found that the GABA is used to decrease cortisol levels so I quickly stopped the GABA in hopes Danny's level would improve.  The likelihood that the oral GABA crosses the blood brain barrier is very unlikely but we are talking about Danny's super capabilities here....I"ll just keep the GABA out just to be safe.  We had repeat levels done on Danny and found it is more likely that his levels are screwed up with his screwed up sleep patterns.  Normally a persons levels are high in the morning and/or under stress and lower in the evening, seeing Danny likes to start his mornings around 2-3 in the morning that could very well be the reason why his levels were not where they need to be during the appropriate times.  Unfortunately and thankfully during the first low findings Danny had a grand mal seizure what made it a good time to draw new labs (as his body was under stress) to make sure the cortisol level would increase, like it was suppose to do.  Thankfully it did indeed go up so that was reassuring.  So we still were on guard to find out the neuro/seizure trigger as 99.9% of the time there is a trigger to any new episodes.... bring on the intense game of Clue.  Anyone else want to play??  Friday there was an unusual finding on Danny's bottom .... a grape/marble size lump in the post perirectal cheek area.  Hmmmmmm ~ never seen or felt anything like that as of yet ~ so we monitored it and by the next morning it GREW into more of a walnut size.  We loaded up and headed over to the ER to have it checked out.  The ER doctor felt it was an abscess, UGH!!  Thankfully the on call surgeon took a look at it and he was able to take care of draining the abscess right at the bedside.  We had an option of taking him into the OR if we felt it was going to be too much for him to due it with just a local, but Danny did great and I'm so glad we didn't have to put him under anesthesia.  After 5.5 draining hours in the ER we headed to the pharmacy to get 2 different antibiotics (taking bets on how long we see C Diff again) and then to the comforts of our own beds.  Danny has been doing amazing the first 24 hours seeing he has a large open wound on his bottom that needs to stay clean, dry and repacked twice a day.  I'm so glad I don't have to be the one repacking his wound...I can hold his hand, be the comfort, and let the nurses be the "mean" ones.   We are to see the surgeon again on Tuesday for a follow up. I'm hoping the wound is healing enough that we will not need to repack it anymore....keep your fingers crossed.  My hope is this large uncomfortable abscess was the trigger to Danny's new episodes and once things turn the corner for healing that the episodes will stay away.  Even with Danny not being in the best of moods/health I was able to get a nice "school" photo of him for this year.
He's SO HANDSOME.....the shirt says it all!!
Danny got his new wheelchair as he was alil too wide for his last chair.  I was hoping he'd fit in it for awhile longer, but no such luck.  Here he is sporting his new KI mobility Focus CR 16" copper in color.


Av's also been on the mend from a nasty Sinus infection.  She is on her 2nd round of antibiotics and I'm hoping this will finally take care of this for her.  Despite her sinus infection she is rocking it at dive.  She currently is holding 1st place in the state of Wisconsin!  She's only a freshmen, OH MY ~  I'm over the top excited and proud of her.  She is even mentioned in a WISCA (Wisconsin Interscholastic Swim coaches Association) article, which is titled "Another Freshman state title winner?" and her part states ~
"And don't forget about Neenah's Av Osero. The latest phenom out of the Neenah diving factory, she currently leads all D1 divers with the highest score posted on the WISCA website (471.30). The state dive meet usually rewards experience -- only two divers have won state as freshmen in the past decade -- and this year's diving field is unusually deep, led by defending state champ Tatum Thompkins of Racine Case. But Neenah divers have a history of bringing home state titles, so Osero bears watching come November." 
How awesome is that!!  Boy is she making a name for herself.  So far she has placed 1st in most of the meets and has 2 2nd places under her dive cap for her freshmen year.  At the last Neenah home meet they had the divers swim a relay race, each diver swam a 50 Free.....that shit did her 50 in 27.34 seconds which is better then most of the swimmers on the team ~ WOW!
It's homecoming week !!  This week she will not only have the homecoming festivities during the week but also 3 dive meets to compete at too.  On Tuesday and Friday she will be competing at Oshkosh West and Saturday will be at West Bend.  After the meet on Saturday it's get home ASAP to get ready for her first Homecoming dance.  She will be having pictures and dinner here at the house with her friends before they go off to the dance.  It's going to be a party place around here for the rest of this month for Av with Homecoming next weekend, the following weekend is Av's bday party, and then we will be having a confirmation party for her on the 30th.  
She really NEEDS to slow down on this growing up business....can I hit pause for a bit?
Look at her!  My has she grown ~
Freshman school and diving photos
2016 Youth hunt was this weekend and it was Av's 4 year of hunting.  Every year she's harvested a deer.  This one is the biggest one yet ~ Way to go Av!!  Sporting the new DNR approved camo pink

 Not too much new with me.... other then some new ink!  Another great piece done by Jake at Wicked Ink.  He's currently working on a sketch to do my last cover up. I can't wait to see what he comes up with.
 The last few weeks of medical drama has started to take a toll as I've been more fatigued, I'm having more neuropathy pain in my legs n feet, and a headache has been popping up here n there.  I'm hoping that since Av n Danny are on the mend that I'll be able to relax and my system will calm down also.  I DO NOT need to have a relapse any time soon....too busy for MS right now.

Thanks for stopping by to check on us!  There is a chill in the air and the colors are changing ~ fall is here